1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a design of a large mobile advertising display that is carried in the bed of a standard pickup truck. The display is designed to be quickly and easily moved from one pickup truck to another.
2. Description of Related Art
An advertising display for a pick-up truck or similar vehicle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,529 (Keller). This patent discloses a display that is directly mounted to the rear truck deck of a pickup. The display has a transparent surface that slopes from the cab to the tailgate of the pickup. The patent also discloses a means to move a plurality of advertising messages within the display. The messages are only visible from the rear of the truck.
A vehicle supporting advertising arrangement is disclosed in International Application WO86/01925 (Turcea). This international application discloses an advertising display that is directly mounted to a flat bed truck or trailer without sidewalls. The display is described as having a house shaped body with sides walls. The side walls have an outer layer of transparent plastic, an inter layer of light diffusing material and a middle layer containing advertising.
Other advertising displays mounted on truck like vehicles are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,833 (Kobayashi), U.S. Pat. No. 1,597,262 (Bloodgood) and in U.S. Pat. No. 1,597,112 (Rymal). The patent issued to Kobayashi discloses a display that has three screens that rotate positions. The patent issued to Bloodgood discloses display modules that rotate. The patent issued to Rymal discloses movable display means for advertising and a stationary display means for advertising. In each of the three aforementioned patents the vehicle used is specifically designed for the purpose of displaying advertisements.
Examples of illuminated advertising displays that are capable of being attached to vehicles can be seen in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,551 (Elmer), U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,970 (Elmer), U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,994 (Elmer), U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,343 (Allan), U.S. Patent No. 4,052,806 (George), U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,103 (Neff), U.S. Pat. No. 3,305,961 (Lanzon), U.S. Pat. No. 1,481,703 (Forbes) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,242,329 (Abrams). The displays disclosed in these patents generally provide only a small area to advertise with or only a one directional view display area.
A portable display device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,033 (Coleman). The patent issued to Coleman discloses an advertising sign that can be mounted to a trailer so it can be moved around. An advertising display unit having opposed display faces arranged in spaced parallelism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,530,525 (Howenstine). This patent only relates to stationary signs.
3. Limitations of Related Art
The previous related art does not enable the design of a large mobile advertising display that can be easily moved from one pickup truck to another. The need for a simple and efficient way for advertisers to convey their mobile messages without expending great sums of money on special vehicles to haul the displays around has long been felt. My present invention satisfies those needs.